Beyond Marching: I Will Not Be Passive #Resist

Two dogs attending the Womens March Sydney on Jan 21st, 2017. One is wearing a blue home-made coat that reads BITCHES AGAINST BIGOTS, the other dog is wearing fairy wings and a VOTE GREENS badge

Last weekend I marched with #WomensMarchSyd in solidarity with women around the world who wanted to visibly repudiate the Trump agenda’s predictable winding back of women’s (and other marginalised groups’) freedoms and rights.

Last Thursday I went to the Yabun Festival celebrating indigenous culture and listed to elders in the #SpeakOut tent speak of challenges faced by our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander citizens and paths forward. During that panel the #InvasionDay march arrived, the largest in years and filled with non-indigenous multicultural allies, and we stood to clap them through before resuming.

Today I will spend time with compassionate progressive friends to decompress amidst the horror movie of the daily news. Tomorrow I will spend time with a singing group to help build my reservoir of neurochemicals that aid resilience.

Later this week I will be part of my first #resist planning meeting*. I’m on a steep learning curve here, but I refuse to be just an observer any more. I will not be passive.

Anyone else organising with anti-fascist #resistance movements, I’d like to know anything you’re authorised to share with others. We need to be visible.

* N.B. I’m not authorised to publicise details at this point. I don’t even know yet whether this particular group will be the right group for me to work with. I am however actively seeking paths to make a difference via anti-fascist #resistance groups, and am keen to learn more from others likewise inclined.